Transferred from LCROSS team members Stephan F. Ord on March 8, 2011; Kimberly Ennico Smith on March 14, 2011; Khaled F. Galal
on March 23, 2011; Daniel Andrews on April 18 and 21, 2011 and May 23, 2011; and Robert D. Barber on June 9, 2011.

Administrative History

On June 18, 2009, NASA launched the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS, shepherding spacecraft) as a secondary
payload to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas V 401 rocket on a mission to study Earth's
moon. LCROSS was designed to confirm the presence and nature of water ice on the moon, and to study the composition of lunar
regolith by using the launch vehicle's upper stage as a kinetic impactor and its shepherding spacecraft as a data collector.
The impact would dislodge lunar material at the bottom of a permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole and elevate
it high into the sunlight, thus enabling the instruments aboard the spacecraft to record its characteristics. The main task
of the LRO mission, which is still active, was to map the moon and characterize future landing sites. Both missions achieved
their primary objectives. LCROSS detected water in the moon's Cabeus crater, and LRO returned nearly 200 terabytes of images
and high-resolution maps of the lunar surface, and continues to transmit altimeter measurements back to Earth.

LCROSS separated from LRO shortly after launch, carrying the spent upper stage portion of the Centaur rocket with it, and
proceeded to shepherd the rocket tank to the impact site. The trajectory consisted of a lunar flyby on June 23, 2009, followed
by highly elliptical polar Earth orbits (Lunar Gravity Assist Lunar Return Orbits), designed to give the craft a high angle
of impact and sufficient speed to maximize the amount of material kicked up during impact. The plan while in transit was to
allow the fuel remaining in the rocket to dissipate and to turn the sides of the tank toward the sun in order to bake out
residual water. The flight proceeded smoothly until August 22, 2009, when the operations team detected an alarming, mission-threatening
anomaly as it prepared to orient the cold side of the tank toward the sun. Preceding this maneuver, during a planned break
in communications with the spacecraft, a systems malfunction had caused the thrusters to fire almost continuously and burn
a sizeable amount of propellant. However, the team resolved the spacecraft emergency in time to guide LCROSS to the impact
site without running out of fuel. On October 9, 2009, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft separated from the Centaur and sent
the rocket tank hurtling toward the bottom of the Cabeus crater at a speed of about two kilometers per second. It then performed
a braking maneuver to create a four-minute distance, positioned its instruments toward the impact site, and followed the Centaur
down to strike the moon in its turn. The first impact dislodged a large plume of debris, dust, and vapor (approximately 250-350
metric tons), which was measured and photographed by the shepherding spacecraft before that spacecraft hit the surface minutes
later. This final stage of the mission was timed so that LRO, orbiting high above the crash site, would be in position to
collect data from both impact events.

The data returned from the instruments aboard LCROSS and LRO showed that the debris plume contained pure water ice grains
as well as volatiles, such as methane, ammonia, hydrogen gas, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, and some light metals, such
as sodium and mercury. This detection of water on the moon definitively confirmed what the scientific community had already
suspected based on data obtained from three earlier lunar missions that remotely detected the chemical signatures of water
in the moon's polar regions: Clementine (Naval Research Laboratory, launched 1994), Lunar Prospector (NASA Ames Research Center,
launched 1998), and Chandrayaan-1 (Indian Space Research Organization, launched 2008).

Mission Development and Management
Northrop Grumman, located in Redondo Beach, California, designed and built the LCROSS spacecraft bus with oversight from the
team at NASA Ames Research Center. In order to fit LCROSS into the launch vehicle as a secondary payload to LRO, an Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adaptor, or ESPA ring, served as the main structure of the spacecraft. Designers
placed the fuel tank inside the ring and positioned the science instruments, solar array, command and control systems, communications
devices, antennas, and batteries around the outside of the ring. The craft carried a science payload of nine instruments designed
and developed by NASA Ames for observing the impact and the characteristics of the resulting ejecta cloud: five cameras (one
visible, two near infrared, and two mid-infrared), one total luminance photometer, one visible spectrometer, and two near
infrared spectrometers.

On April 10, 2006 NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate selected the NASA Ames proposal for LCROSS to lift off as
a secondary payload to the LRO. LCROSS had to remain within a budget of 79 million dollars, weigh less than 1,000 kilograms,
and be completed in time for the LRO launch scheduled just 31 months following the selection date. To meet these requirements,
the designers pursued a non-traditional approach, creatively employing various management measures and incorporating low-cost
components. For example, they assembled a humble but fully capable control room from a series of networked personal computers
patched into the secure local network at NASA Ames. The spacecraft incorporated durable, commercially-available, "off-the-shelf"
materials such as the visible camera and other scientific instruments, and existing flight-qualified hardware, such as the
ESPA ring, rather than costly, time- and resource-consuming custom-made items. The Centaur was repurposed for use as the kinetic
impactor, thus maximizing the mass available to the working payload. Ultimately, the spacecraft was completed and approved
on time, at a total mission cost of 79 million dollars.

Social Media OutreachIn addition to the usual channels such as traditional Web sites, printed publications, and broadcast media, the LCROSS mission
team experimented with disseminating information to the public in real time through two social media platforms, Facebook and
Twitter. Accounts were set up in June 2008 and maintained throughout the entire mission by Payload Scientist Kim Ennico Smith
and Observation Coordinator and Co-Investigator Jennifer Heldmann, with support from other team members and NASA Ames public
affairs officers. The Twitter feed, which was presented from the point of view of the spacecraft, was terminated after the
impact event, followed by the Facebook page a few months later. On average, Twitter was updated about twice a day and Facebook
twice a week, with heavier messaging during the launch, flyby, and impact events. Thousands of individuals from all over the
world signed on as Facebook "fans" and Twitter "followers." Before the spacecraft launch, each outlet had about 2,000 followers,
whose numbers climbed during the launch phase, then again during impact phase. After impact, there were over 11,000 Facebook
fans and approximately 13,300 Twitter followers.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Project Collection (7.6 cubic feet and 1,145 digital objects totaling
approximately 40.9 gigabytes) contains records and artifacts accumulated by various LCROSS Team members, including Project
Control Manager, Stephan Ord, Payload Scientist Kimberly Ennico Smith, and Project Manager Daniel Andrews. The bulk of the
material is in electronic format and documents the team's outreach efforts to inform, educate, and engage the general public
and scientific community. Other records were generated for internal use in the course of planning and executing the mission,
for inspiring the team, and for commemorating milestones with family and friends. Included are some informational materials
produced outside of Ames about the mission, as well as honors and awards bestowed on the team by NASA and other institutions.

Series I contains a full set of the records that were accumulated by the project office and cleared for public release. Included
are digital photographs, fact sheets, booklets, technical papers, briefings, presentations, news releases, magazine articles,
data samples, spacecraft animations, video footage of the spacecraft assembly and an environmental test, broadcasts featuring
the mission, toys, and games. Series II documents the social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter with reports, statistics,
and archived material. Series III consists of artifacts and oversized material in the form of awards, posters, memorabilia,
and ephemeral items. Series IV includes images, operational material, and video collected by various individual team members
from Ames and other institutions.

Series are organized by function according to donors, with contents further arranged alphabetically and according to format
(analog textual materials, digital materials, artifacts, and oversized material). Series IV records subject to national export
restrictions are boxed separately. "Born digital" records were mainly kept in their original order, with the exception of
a few slight shifts to avoid redundancies. Loose analog versions of digital files were physically placed with files for the
corresponding digital records, in accordance with the digital file structure.

Though the bulk of this collection is in digital form, it is represented as being physically arranged into boxes and folders.
This scheme was chosen to best accommodate access to the blend of digital and physical materials. All folders bearing "Digital"
in the title contain copies of the full file directories, while all folders marked "Analog" contain any physical items the
team produced from the digital files, as well as selected copies of some of the files printed out by the archivist. Researcher
access is not limited to analog records.

Series Description

This series contains records cleared for public release that were accumulated by Project Control Manager Stephan Ord. The
bulk of this series is electronic ("born digital"), as submitted, and falls into ten categories, representing the top-level
file directory structure.

- The
Booklets and
Fact Sheets categories include informational material about the mission, spacecraft, launch architecture, and the moon that was generated
for the general public by NASA, Northrop Grumman, and United Launch Alliance. This part of the collection consists of a twenty-page
informational booklet along with single-page handouts.

- The
Images category contains photographic material and illustrations generated by the Public Affairs Office. This part of the collection
consists of directories holding sets of individual image files, with most sets grouped into a PowerPoint presentation. Subjects
represented include the mission teams; the spacecraft, launch architecture and instrument components; teams assembling the
spacecraft in clean rooms; transportation of the spacecraft to Cape Canaveral; preparation for and execution of the launch;
the project team in the mission operations control room at NASA Ames; and mission staff, Ames employees, and the public working
and reveling on the night LCROSS impacted the moon.

- The
Kids' Stuff category is comprised of material designed to appeal to children. This part of the collection consists of an LCROSS coloring
book, a video game, and a punch-out-and-fold paper model kit.

- The
Statements and Articles category includes NASA and Northrop Grumman news releases, and article content for
Space Times and
Aerospace Now dated from 2008-2010.

- The
Videos and Music category contains video footage, computer-generated animations, and television coverage describing or depicting the mission,
including programs produced by NASA, Northrop Grumman, the Public Broadcasting Service of the United States (NOVA, Science
Channel) and Northern California (KQED Quest), CBS News (60 Minutes), and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Of note are
the music and video files of the LCROSS theme song entitled "Water on the Moon," which was composed and performed by Deputy
Project Manager, John Marmie.

This series contains records accumulated by Payload Scientist Kimberly Ennico Smith. The bulk of this series is in electronic
form ("born digital"), as submitted. The records here mainly document the LCROSS mission's experimentation with social media
outreach on Twitter and Facebook, from spring 2008 until a few months after the mission ended in October 2009. Contents include
project and statistical reports about LCROSS social media efforts, screen captures of Facebook and Twitter postings by the
LCROSS team, Facebook fan comments, and Twitter posts, or "tweets."

This series contains artifacts and oversized materials accumulated by Project Manager Daniel Andrews, Mission Design Lead
Khaled (Ken) F. Galal, and Project Systems Engineer Robert D. Barber. Included is an assortment of LCROSS memorabilia, ephemera,
oversized material, and awards. These last were bestowed on the team by NASA, The National Space Society, Popular Mechanics
Magazine, and the Space Foundation. Ephemeral material includes mission decals, informational cards, a bookmark, and other
items, such as a clear plastic water bottle with "LCROSS/Northrop Grumman" and "Got Water?" printed on the sides. Memorabilia
include mission patches and pins, and a bottle of "Craterade" LCROSS Impact Ale, one of a few select batches of LCROSS beer
brewed by Contracting Officer Jeffrey S. Brown. Of note is a copy of a bound, softcover book entitled "LCROSS Memories," compiled
by Project Manager Daniel Andrews and distributed to the team. The "memory book," as it's called, is a scrapbook that tells
the story of the LCROSS mission and provides an intimate glimpse into the people who worked on it. Inside are copies of official
documents such as memos and other correspondence, organization charts, schedules, presentations, overviews, and professional
photographs, as well as unofficial material such as snapshots of team members with their families and quotations of different
messages posted on the whiteboard during the project. Oversized material in this series is comprised of two banners signed
by the team and their families, a project team photograph, and posters featuring the LCROSS spacecraft, scientific operations,
and the launch vehicle.

This series contains miscellaneous material related to LCROSS that was accumulated by various team members from NASA Ames
Research Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Northrop Grumman. Included are a launch
console handbook, snapshots and mission images that individuals thought were memorable, screen shots of Northrop Grumman Lead
Flight Software Engineer Emory Stagmer's Facebook album entitled "LCROSS launch campaign and on-going operations," and video
footage of two Spacevidcast shows featuring LCROSS.